Granny Stripes
by GamblingDementor
Summary: Sometimes, all the comfort you need is a warm blanket and someone to share it with. Series of chronological one-shots/drabbles featuring Andy and April's domestic interactions throughout their lives. Centered around the home and blankets.
1. Wedding Night

It's so late that dawn is almost breaking by the time April decides that, even though her wedding party was the best ever, so much so that she has barely been bored at all most of the night, and she loves Andy, and she's so happy they're married, and there were even _some_ guests she doesn't completely hate, and she's happy they were here, there simply is a limit to how long she can stand being in a room full of people.

"Andy, they have to leave," she tells him, and then louder, to the whole room,"YOU HAVE TO LEAVE, NOW!"

No one hears her over the music blasting through the speakers that has been deafening everyone ever since Mouse Rat stopped singing hours ago. She grabs Andy's arm and repeats herself with a slightly whiny voice.

"Andy..."

He's been lost in thoughts, looking around him at the party from the couch where they've been cuddling for the best part of the night, his face a huge grin that just won't fade, but he turns to her when she pulls on the arm he has wrapped around her shoulders.

"Yeah, babe?"

"Andy, make them leave."

"Who?"

"Everyone. Party's over."

He stares at her for a few seconds before cracking an even bigger smile.

"Dude, say no more. I know what's going on."

"You do?"

"Totally! You are so going to have the best wedding night EVER in like five minutes, I promise!"

She actually just wanted everyone gone, but it _is_ their wedding night, so they might as well spend it having sex all over the house. She gives him a look that she hopes he would understand means _I'd better_ _have the best wedding night_ _ever or I'm gonna divorce you_, and suddenly Andy is up and going, trotting from one person to the other, whispering to everybody what she thinks is probably either a very sweet and polite way to kindly ask them to leave using far too many words, or a very gross plea to let him get laid with his wife. Either way, the guests that are here end up leaving them alone and she doesn't even have to yell them out — she still does, just a little bit.

She turns the music off. No guests, no roommate, the house's all empty, save for the two of them, just her _husband_ and her. A smile creeps onto her face unbidden, and she doesn't mind. She pops a few chips into her mouth right as Andy is waving the last guests goodbye, hums Sex Hair to herself and sits back on the couch, waiting for him.

Five minutes later, she's still alone on the couch, it's starting to get chilly (Andy didn't pay the bills again, which is fine by her, except it's always pretty cold in here, especially as winter is coming. The guests were their heating that night, and Andy her personal heater, but they're gone and she's all alone and freezing right now), she wants a night of amazingly weird sex with her husband and she's grumpy he's taking so long.

"Andy!"

No answer. She wraps a blanket around her shoulders, shivering, and walks up the door to find him chatting with his grandma as if he's completely forgotten that it's their wedding night. It's dark, a chilly wind is blowing, and April frowns.

"No, no, Grandma, I promise it's fine...", Andy is saying.

He's smiling like an idiot and she can't really be mad at him when he just looks so happy. Lifting his arm and wrapping it around her, she nestles herself against his side. Even in the cold night, he's still super hot and it's beyond her how he manages to not lose just about every exposed part of his body to frostbite.

"Andy, come back inside."

"Hey, babe, Grandma was just telling me she's sorry she didn't bring a gift, but I told her..."

Her teeth are chattering and she kind of tunes him out for a second. He's still all smile. The old woman takes April's hand into hers and squeezes it as old people do. April jerks it back, but Andy's grandma doesn't seem to take notice.

"I'm really sorry, I wish I had something nice for you and my boy, but I didn't know it was a wedding before tonight..."

"Yeah, yeah, great, goodbye," April says and tugs on Andy's arm and _oh my god he's still wearing the Wayne jersey yet his skin is so hot, how is he not_ freezing?

"Bye, Grandma!" he shouts as April drags him back inside, "I love you!"

She slams the door shut before hearing the answer and grabs his neck to kiss him and very soon, the blanket falls off her shoulders and he makes her forget about ever being cold.


	2. Lake Michigan

Andy has no experience whatsoever in honeymoon trips, but as far as theirs is concerned, he's pretty sure it's going totally perfectly.

The first day, they arrive at Burly's family cabin (in a car April borrowed or stole from God knows who because hers broke and Andy doesn't currently "own" a car) and, after half an hour of search, they eventually find a window that has been left a little bit open, just a quarter of an inch, and thanks to April's tiny fingers, they open it all the way up. She climbs into the house and quickly finds a spare key under the doormat (she's _so_ smart, Andy always thinks) to open the front door and let him in. He's pretty sure Burly's family wasn't planning on taking a week off right now, but if they do, April will totally figure something out. They spend that first day making out − and a little bit more than making out, they're _married_ after all −on the couch and Andy still feels all warm inside all the time thinking about it, about her. He's still getting used to wearing a wedding ring, to feeling that tiny bit of metal on her own ring finger, and it just keeps reminding him that he's _married_ to the coolest chick in the world. Perfect first honeymoon day with the perfect wife? Yes yes yes.

There's a lot to do at a lake house, but very little that April is actually into, so they spend most of their time there either napping or hanging out or watching the fire in the hearth since there's no tv (which Andy finds relaxing and cool and April boring and pointless), having sex on just about every surface of the house (April is _very_ creative when it comes to that), using all the dishes and putting them on the floor everywhere (her idea) and swimming in the lake (his idea − April is _so_ pretty in a swimsuit). They have a lot of fun all in all. If Andy knew that this lake house was as great as it is, he would have broken into it long before. Well, not that long, really. He has only been with April for a month, after all. For a second, he wishes they'd get their own cabin so they could have a quiet little nook in case they want some peace just the two of them, but he shakes that thought off. They'd never get the money. Lucky they have Burly's house.

At some point, Andy decides he wants to make the best of their stay in such a beautiful location and go do something outside. It's not like they're going to take a vacation again any time soon, considering they're broke as hell. April refuses to go hiking or fishing (which is just as well, considering Andy has no idea how to fish and just suggested the idea because it sounded cool), but compromises by agreeing to try waterskiing later.

Waterskiing is a complete disaster, and yet Andy has the time of his life. He has never driven a boat before, and after a whole day driving one, he still has no idea how to do, but it's just _so much fun_. April doesn't know how to waterski either, despite his best advice. She falls so many times that he's starting to wonder if she's doing it on purpose. He has to laugh every time, too, because her hair is tied up in a way that makes her look like an angry cat every time she comes out of the water and it looks like she's about to hiss. They take turns a few times and he isn't much better than her − she says he looks like a dog and he growls and barks and she laughs when he bites at her calves. The weather is fair in the afternoon, but as time goes by, it's starting to get a little bit chilly and he doesn't really want to swim anymore. They make out in the boat, but in the end, she's shivering and it's starting to get dark, so he takes her in his arms, literally bridal style because she was his bride like last week, and takes her back inside.

He did have fun splashing around in the lake, driving the boat a tad too fast and spitting water at her, but it's even more fun taking a bath together in Burly's huge bathroom (which, what is he doing with a tub that size in a wood cabin in the first place? Why?) for hours before eventually April complains about the water being cold _again_, _like why did they even leave the lake if they just stayed in the bath until it's freezing, Andy, we have to get out of here_, but he loves grumpy April too because he gets to cheer her up every time.

"Babe, you're gonna feel so hot right now, I swear, it'll be just like a faucet."

"Furnace," she corrects him, but she's smiling already.

Maybe it's the booze April found after breaking through the pantry door, maybe it's the smell of the fire that reminds him of long camping nights with his brothers when he was a kid, maybe it's all the sex they had on Burly's couch (also crazy comfortable, they should really come back to this cabin again, it's the _best_), maybe it's the bacon and pancakes they gorged themselves with afterwards, maybe it's the warmth of his super dope wife's tiny body covering his as they cuddle under a blanket, but Andy can't think of a better night in his whole life than this one. He can't remember a time he's ever felt more completely relaxed.

"I know we should totally, like, go to bed right now," he mumbles, "but I just..."

"I'm gonna break your knees if you move," she interrupts and nestles her head right under his neck. Her lips brush against his skin, soft as a feather, and he wraps his arms around her even tighter. He's not quite sure because it's raining outside and he can't really hear that well, but he thinks she just let out that sort of moan that he only gets to hear when she's super comfortable and happy and safe, and he likes that, because he only gets to hear that when they cuddle late at night and she's almost asleep (come to think of it, could it be a snore? He's not sure), and he wants her to be happy around him as much as he is around her.

"I love you," she sighs and that's no mistake, she's said it loud enough. "My husband."

"Love you too," he replies and yawns. "So, so much..."

His only response is the quiet breathing of his kickass wife sleeping.

The next day, he wakes up to the sounds of rain slashing on the window and of rustling and tiptoeing around. He rubs his eyes, forces them open in all his sleepiness and finds his beautiful wife pacing across the room, picking things up and shoving them into her backpack.

"Hey, babe."

She turns to him and gives him the cutest smile, a bit crooked, her _I-just-did-something-wrong_ smile which is like his third favorite April smile after her sexy _drop-your-pants-right-now_ smile and her special _I-hate-everyone-but-I-love-you_ smile.

"Hey."

"Watcha doing?"

She looks up from a pile of books she's been stacking in her bag and her smile gets broader.

"Helping Burly away with things he doesn't need."

"Seriously?!" He stands up, all tiredness gone. "What did you got?"

She looks at the bag, then at him, then at the bag again and begins listing everything. He walks up to her and hugs her from behind and her melting into his embrace, holding his arms makes him all giddy and happier than all the stuff that she's stolen and that is theirs now.

"... and this flashlight, and the lavender shampoo that smells good, and this pack of..."

He stops her with a kiss, and an hour later, when they're all sweaty and worn out on the floor after the best sex they've had so far (sometimes it feels that they're getting better every time), she also steals the blanket from the sofa, the one that's super soft.

Andy is the one who brings up Leslie and convinces April to send her a video. April is less than ecstatic when she finds out that they had a working network connection all along, but he laughs it off and they still send the video to Leslie (they accidentally film twenty minutes of making out and a little bit of foreplay but he trusts April to cut that part). They still watch tons of Netflix after that, or at least they put it on, and at some point they forget about it and jump each other's bones.

When they pack up their stuff and all the stuff they stole at the end of their honeymoon, Andy sort of wishes they'd stayed here longer. April notices he's sad and offers him to pretend they stayed a week longer, and stay at home instead eating take-outs and wearing nothing at all, and Andy realizes their honeymoon is never really going to be over.


	3. Crochet Stripes

April is just coming back from Andy's shoeshine stand, bracing herself for a few hours of checking her mails, watching videos of puppies on YouTube and glancing at Ron through the window and nodding from time to time before finally leaving for home early, when Leslie appears in front of her out of thin air.

"April!" she says, loudly, and April winces.

"Hey."

The other woman is literally beaming so much April's kind of afraid her cheeks will stretch and stay stuck that way, or tgat it hurts. She drags her along the hall, blabbering about things April does not quite get — or care to listen to. Why would she listen if she can just daydream about the big man she left in the hall — she is going to take several long coffee-slash-make-out breaks with him today.

"So what I'm saying is I'm so sorry."

They're in Leslie's office by now and April finds herself wondering how they ended up here. Her legs seemed to be working of their own accord. She's still only thinking about Andy's warm body against hers in the water of Lake Michigan, about his big hands on her hips and his lips on her neck. She shuts the thoughts out begrudgingly to focus on Leslie just for a while.

"What for?"

Leslie tries to give her a knowing look, but April has no idea what she means. She opens her briefcase and pulls out a big present wrapped in blue paper with a fancy bow on top.

"For the wedding. Your wedding. I thought I knew better than you, but since you're obviously very happy together, I _suppose_ I was _wrong,_" she sighs the last word.

"Oh, that."

April was actually touched by Leslie's concern that night, to the point of _hugging_ her (gosh, what had become of her?), but she appreciates the apology as well. Especially if it comes with a big box of free stuff. Maybe it's food. They could use some free food.

"It's okay," she says, after she realizes Leslie's been staring at her nervously. "It's totally fine."

Leslie gives her the brightest smile and April almost feels like smiling, too. Leslie has this ability to make her want to be _nice_, sometimes. She worried for nothing, still. She would have married Andy no matter what (she'd marry him a ten thousand times more if she could), and no one's opinion on that really mattered, but if she had to be perfectly honest, she doesn't completely mind having Leslie's approval. It does mean at least a little bit to her.

"Great!" Leslie cheers. "I'm happy to hear that!"

April shrugs and gives half a glance at the present still on Leslie's desk. It doesn't go unnoticed.

"This," Leslie says emphatically and pushed it towards April, "is for you and Andy. It'll fit right into the color theme of the living room at your friend's house, from what I saw the day of the wedding, hopefully it'll still look good in your new place. I hope you've started looking?"

She nods for April to open the present, but April waits.

"Actually, we had a fight to death with Burly in our wrestling ring yesterday. We won and buried him on Ann's front lawn. The house is ours now."

"I know you're messing with me," Leslie says with a judging but still benevolent look, "and I don't know what happened, but hopefully, nothing illegal. Now open it!"

April knows that, ideally, she should have asked Andy to come open the present, because he loves unwrapping stuff and playing with the paper afterwards, but Leslie is staring at her so intently that she feels like she has no other choice than do it herself right now. She tears the paper and pulls out what's inside.

"It's a… blanket?"

"YES!"

Leslie begins to clap and cheer and April doesn't really have the heart to comment.

"Are you happy? I crocheted it myself last night!"

"Erm, yeah, sure," April shrugs.

"I mean, I know the pattern is a little basic, I wish I'd had time for something a bit more intricate, maybe a picture of you two, but stripes are always elegant, and I think it'll fit right into your house, don't you? I wasn't _completely_ sure about the colors, I mean, I think your favorite color is black, but I didn't know about Andy, so I chose colors that look like the murals because how can you go wrong with that, and that remind me of your living room, and pastel goes with black anyway, so you can just put it on your couch and then…"

Some day, April will have to comment on Leslie's rambling and let her know that everyone stops listening to a word she says after three seconds, but less talking for Leslie would probably mean more working for April and she doesn't want that.

"It's great, Leslie, thanks," she mumbles as fast as she can before leaving Leslie's office with the blanket and puts it into her bag before starting her computer. She has videos of cute puppies falling asleep to watch for a reasonable amount of time before going back to the shoeshine stand.


	4. Sleepy Wife

"This bed is like, a million times better than the couch, right, babe?"

She grunts in response. Lying on her side, her naked back to him under the covers that she's bunching up around her with her messy hair and quiet breathing, she looks like exactly the sight he wants to fall asleep to every single night for ever and ever.

"Like, totally better," he goes on when it becomes obvious that she isn't going to answer, "I'm so glad Burly moved out."

She grumbles something under her breath. She _can_ be a bit grouchy when she's sleepy at night, he found out early into their relationship. Or when she's just woken up. Or in the middle of the day. Any time, really. She's adorable.

"I mean, he was the one paying the bills," he thinks out loud and hugs her from behind. Her skin is soft against his hands and her hair smells like sex. With a tired moan, she slightly arches into him like a cat (a beautiful, _beautiful_ sexy naked cat) and he guesses she might be falling asleep soon. "But still, we get the house for ourselves."

"Mmh, sure," she says in a sleepy sigh and turns around in his arms. Her head rests on his shoulder, fits right into him, as they always do, the two of them. "You're warm."

He supposes he should sleep at some point, too, but he's feeling just so damn happy that his brain refuses to shup up. Sometimes he has these moments, when he thinks about how perfect his life is. Cool job as shoeshinist, cool house, cool boss (he isn't completely sure who _is_ his boss but he thinks it's Chris and Chris is super duper cool) and, of course, the coolest overall best freaking wife in the universe, no, in all the universes ever.

"I love you _so much_," he says because that thought is constantly on his mind and sometimes he just has to let it out. But when he glances down, April's fallen asleep and is already snoring, that cute little snores she makes that are just heavy breathing really, but he still teases her about it. At least he knows the conversation part is over for tonight.

He has no idea what he's done to deserve this, to be so happy with her, but he knows that he's not wasting it. He's living it to the fullest. There's no way he is going to ever stop working full time to make his perfect wife happy. She's perfect and sleeping beautifully right now and that gives him an idea for a song. Slowly, with all the care in the world, he disentangles himself from her and stands up quietly. He can't help pressing a kiss on her temple before leaving the room, and she whimpers just a little bit, in the cutest way, in her sleep, but thankfully doesn't wake up.

In the kitchen, he grabs himself a beer and checks the time on the wall. 12:30 am. He is definitely going to be tired tomorrow, but since he can't sleep, he might as well put his time to good use. Besides, he can always take a nap at work tomorrow. Or even a sexy nap with April, but that might defeat the purpose of getting some sleep.

The house is quiet this late at night and for a second, Andy almost sings out loud to hear how it would in the silence but he remembers just in time that April's sleeping. He's going to have to be quiet when he starts writing that song, just after drinking his beer. He already has the title: _Sleepy wife_. Another great track for _April Ludgate is the best ever_. He takes a big sip of beer and sits on the couch, but feels something weird under him.

It's a present. The paper is already torn and the content has been put back hastily inside, but it's clearly a present, probably for him and April, and there is a note in it.

_To my favorite couple, April and Andy,_

_I wish you the best life together, the happy and fulfilling life you both deserve. You two were made for each other and it's been one of my greatest joys to witness your love blossom. I hope this small gift gets you through the coldest nights, but the warmest comfort is being at home with the people you love._

_I love you both. Congratulations on the wedding. It was beautiful._

_Leslie Knope_

_Parks Department_

Inside, there is a blanket. It's soft and pretty, like everything Leslie makes, and Andy feels a huge smile plastered on his face at once. He always thought Leslie was rooting for them, but he feels blessed to read it plainly anyway. That blanket is beautiful. He wasn't exactly expecting any wedding gift, not from her, not from anyone (his mom gave him a set of new flanel shirts and a new dishwasher, and also made him his favorite meal the day after the wedding, and it's actually a lot coming from her, because she hasn't been doing that much ever since he's lost his father, but she's his _mom_, of course she'd give her little boy something for his wedding), so it comes as the best kind of surprise: surprise gifts. Also great are surprise parties and surprise sex.

"Andy?"

He scrambles to his feet, the blanket still in his hand, as soon as he hears her voice. April's sitting up in bed, rubbing her eyes, and seems oddly relieved when she sees him.

"Hey, babe, what's up?"

She groans and her voice is still a bit slurred from sleep.

"I woke up and didn't see you and I just…"

"Hey, hey," he's immediately at her side, hugging her, and she presses into him, holding him tight. "I was just in the living room cause I couldn't sleep, babe, that's it. I'm here now."

"Mmh… I'm cold…"

He rubs her back and she's so tiny and precious when she's like this that it makes his wedding vows of protecting her all the more meaningful. Suddenly writing _Sleepy wife_ seems very unimportant, and caring for his actual sleepy wife seems like the most important thing in the whole world. Wrapping the gift blanket around April, and their comforter, and the blanket they stole from Burly's family house (Burly never even noticed they had it), he gets her as warm and comfortable as he can.

"There you are!" he says, all chipper, "Super comfy and nice!"

She grabs his arm and pulls on it, and even though he's vastly stronger than her, he still gets the meaning and lies down beside her under the covers.

"I'm gonna turn you into a demon zombie if you go now."

Her arms locked around his neck, she's looking straight into his eyes and pretending to be a witch again.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he says and gives her a kiss before she closes her eyes and nestles herself against his shoulder, ready to fall back asleep any second.

The song will definitely wait until tomorrow to be written.


	5. Sniffer Creeper

April doesn't like Ben. She doesn't exactly hate him either − at least not more than she does everyone else − but she has no fondness for him. He has nothing that makes him special in her eyes and she holds no friendly admiration for him like she does for Leslie or even Ron (and will deny even to her deathbed). They barely talk when it's just the two of them at home, and she likes it that way. In fact, she generally ignores his existence.

But there are things you can't not react to when you come home to them.

"Dude, were you _smelling_ that blanket right now?"

If she cared more, she would take a picture of his face right now, maybe print it and paste it on every wall of City Hall. His mouth is gaping, his eyes wide open, he looks like a deer caught in headlights. Ridiculous. Strangely endearing, too.

"I… er, no! I mean, erm, what? _What?_ No, I wasn't!" he blabbers and she snorts.

"I just _saw_ you, I'm literally standing like ten feet from you."

Not that she's coming any closer to a blanket sniffing weirdo. In fact, she gives him all the space he wants and gets herself a beer from the fridge. Andy is at band practice at Burly's new big house (she hopes he remembers to steal a few cool things like she told him to) and, if she's going to spend the night alone with Ben, she might as well make him as embarrassed as she can. It's like having a Jerry right at home.

She plops onto the kitchen stairs, takes a sip of beer, and meets his eyes again, trying to look as evenfaced yet still scary as she can. It has quite a bit of an effect: Ben's breathing hitches for a second and he throws the blanket as far away from him as she can.

"So, erm, Andy's at practice, huh? How about that?" he asks, contorting his body in ten trying-to-look-casual-but-really-looking-super-awkward positions before giving up and looking away from her, his hands on his lap.

"Yeah, he practices every week, I'm proud of him, bla bla bla, who cares, are you gonna tell me why you were sniffing Leslie's blanket right now?"

At that, he turns back at her immediately. His face is all lit up, as if she's just told him the most important thing ever, given him the last piece of a jigsaw, and it looks frankly gross.

"So it _was_ Leslie's blanket!"

April pauses. The blanket is lying on the floor between them and they're both eying now. This might be the weirdest moment she's ever had with Ben. She can't fathom anyone having a crush on Leslie, weird annoying Leslie (except she really can, Leslie's awesome), but if Ben likes her, and she now feels pretty confident that he does, after witnessing what she just did, she's certain that there are better ways to process his feelings than what she's just walked in on.

"She gave it to us like a month ago, I doubt it smells like her anymore, dude," she sighs.

"_I know that!_" he says a bit too quickly.

She ponders on what route to go from there.

"Look," she ends up saying in a far too gentle voice compared to the one she should use with a weirdo like him, "if you like Leslie, I don't think the best way to go about it is to go around sniffing the presents she gives to other people like a perv'."

"_I wasn't… it wasn't like that!_" he hisses between gritted teeth, "I just… I thought it might have been…"

"I mean, I'm not _judging,_ per se, Andy smells stuff lying around all the time, even your stuff."

Ben raises an eyebrow.

"Point is, it's kinda pathetic."

"That seemed unnecessary."

"Listen, I think at this point, your best option is to do what I did to get Andy. Blood sacrifice at every full moon."

"Right…"

She stands up, picks up the blanket, and sits on the couch next to Ben, pulling it over her lap. She can feel his stare when she turns on the TV.

"Don't look at me like that, you already reached your quota of creepiness for the night."

"I wasn't smelling it like some creep, okay? I just… Leslie mentioned that she liked needlework the other day, and I saw this blanket that, no offense, looks way too nice for you to have bought on your own, and I thought maybe it'd been a gift from her, so I had a look at it to make sure and…"

"Okay, _fine_, I don't care!"

"… Well, in any case, it didn't smell like her in the end."

"No shit."

"It's _not _a fetish, okay!" he says nervously, fidgeting with his fingers on the edge of the cushion.

"If you say so."

"It's not!"

"Mmh."

"It's just, Leslie has this nice perfume and I thought that, if it was a gift from her, it'd have that smell, it's nothing weird!"

"Hey, Ben?"

"What?"

"I lost interest in that story like, three hours ago."

He grunts in response, glaring at her, and that actually makes her chuckle. She switches on Andy's Xbox and starts up her favorite zombie game. It makes her feel powerful.

"Wanna play?" she asks and regrets it instantly when he nods, still grumpy.

He seems to forget about the whole thing after a while, but that might be because she's kicking his ass at this game and he's just too upset to remember.

April hasn't forgotten anything, though, and when Andy comes home a couple hours later, she takes the blanket to their bedroom (it's starting to get chilly at nights again, even though they pay their bills almost every time now, so another blanket in bed is actually not a bad idea), she tells him all about Ben's crush and they laugh about it. Nothing strengthens a marriage like making fun of other people together.


End file.
